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Government and Social Leadership Stands United as GCLAC Against Lead Poisoning in NEO - Committed to Eradication by 2010

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 23:09.

The most important message communicated at today's press conference kicking-off Lead Awareness Week was that our government leadership at the state, county and municipal level stand united to eradicate lead poisoning in Northeast Ohio by 2010. Publicly expressing their concern about lead poisoning here, and their commitment to its rapid elimination, East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones added important voices to the chorus of public health and social service champions of the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council... a unique, world-class collaboration of around 85 organizations.

Every day, anywhere, our lives are exposed to environmental risks. Northeast Ohio is the most toxic part of the state, but we continue to live here, despite the risk. Lead is one major environmental risk, but look over the Toxic Release Inventory for Cuyahoga County. Regulating/eliminating these permitted releases should be our priority now.

I completely agree we must eliminate all pollutants possible in NEO - I am for shutting down Mittal and all industrial enterprises that harm the region more than they may possibly help (jobs may not be traded for cancer, in a civilized economy). I am for conservation, to reduce energy consumption, to reduce pollutants. We must correct the harms of sprawl, to reduce vehicle pollution. Lead is a pollutant from industry and energyproduction that may be reduced through such practices... But none of that may be confused with the lead poisoning crisis in NEO, which is largely related to the 400,000+ lead contaminated buildings in Cuyahoga County, plus other lead contaminated buildings in other area counties, urban and rural.

Getting back to industrial pollution here... I chose to live as far away from the causes as I may, and still be "urban", so I moved from Ohio City to East Cleveland. Consider how near you live to the follwoing, from my Mittal posting linked above...

So here was the cost to real NEO in 2003 for the 1,200 "good" jobs that came from all the politicing, and town halling, and backroom dealing, and foreign venture capitaling, per job, in 2003 - and for 2004 we know "the asthma and cancer-causing pollution has risen over 30% from 2003 to 2004" so it is imaginable the results are much worse today, in 2006:

72,500 pounds of air pollution spewed upon our neighborhoods per Mittal employee, in 2003

... that's 31.25 tons of air pollution per employee in 2003

83.3 pounds of pollution discharged into the Cuyahoga River and so Lake Erie per employee in 2003

1 acre of land kept out of clean, sustainable development per employee